Studies in Communication Sciences 18.2 (2018), pp.

307–324

European luxury fashion brand advertising and marketing

relating to nostalgia
Pelin Ok, Pompeu Fabra University, Department of Communication
pelin.ok01@estudiant.upf.edu

Abstract
This research seeks to examine how European luxury fashion brands use nostalgia in their advertising and
marketing, and the benefits of using nostalgia by analyzing selected adverts from Vogue magazine. The re-
search adopts Narrative Transportation Theory, aims to create a model which develops Van Laer, de Ruyter,
Viscanti and Wentzels’ (2014) “Extended Transportation-Imagery Model”, and provides managerial implica-
tions. Qualitative content analysis of imagery was conducted to analyze 60 adverts of five luxury fashion
brands between 2010–2016. This research offers a different product category to investigate for nostalgia
literature: luxury fashion brands’ advertising, a different cultural context: European luxury fashion brands,
and examines luxury fashion brand characteristics within the adverts’ narratives by semiotics discipline.
Research identifies how nostalgia theme was used in these adverts, provides an understanding among the
themes, and adverts’ analysis in terms of luxury brand characteristics, narrative, and semiotics.

Keywords
Luxury fashion advertising, luxury brand characteristics, nostalgia, brand heritage, emotional branding,
semio­tics, narrative transportation theory

1 Introduction content, and techniques, which are more

concerned with the aesthetics, tonality,
The luxury market usually associated with and narrative (Flueckiger, 2009). Common
exclusivity, and privilege which also pro- characteristics of luxury fashion brands
vides a lifestyle to the customer, has been are focused on a distinct brand identity:
a growing sector over the years; even the country of origin, heritage, and craftsman-
global recession is not an obstacle for ship: role of the designer (Hines & Bruce,
this market growth which overall exceed- 2007). Thus the difference in advertising
ed € 1 trillion in 2016 (Bain & Company, approach of luxury fashion products oc-
2016). Specifically, personal luxury fashion curs as a necessity for representing lux-
goods “ballooned to more than € 250 bil- ury products in an appropriate way by
lion in 2016, more than tripling over the emphasizing exclusivity, rarity, and brand
past 20 years” (Bain & Company, 2016, heritage characteristics (Okonkwo, 2007),
p. 5). Advertising of luxury fashion prod- however also focusing on the experience
ucts has been crucial for luxury brands by the aim of selling the experience as a
since it triggers this market growth by in- lifestyle (Hansen & Wanke, 2011). While
creasing brand awareness. luxury advertising represents a lifestyle
Fashion advertising in research has experience (Flueckiger, 2009), it also in-
been discussed as not a separate section cludes traditional, and cultural symbolic
of advertising. However, it is different values (Freire, 2014) which are different,
than regular advertising since fashion and specific to each luxury brand gener-
advertising includes, and uses specific ated in advertising by using specific types
techniques such as shock advertising (An- of nostalgia: personal, historical (Stern,
dersson, Hedelin, Nilsson, & Welander, 1992a), or collective (Baker & Kennedy,
2004), and extraordinary and discrepant 1994) as a theme to persuade the custom-
images (Phillips & McQuarrie, 2011). Fur- er via reminiscing his/her past. Nostalgia
thermore, luxury fashion advertising has generated in advertising invokes familiar-
https://doi.org/10.24434/j.scoms.2018.02.007
© 2019, the authors. This work is licensed under the “Creative Commons Attribution –
NonCommercial – NoDerivatives 4.0 International” license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0).
308 Ok / Studies in Communication Sciences 18.2 (2018), pp. 307–324
ity (Van Laer et al., 2014), so that the au-
dience empathizes with the content. This
process leads to narrative transportation
(Green & Brock, 2000) of the audience
which results in persuasion of the cus-
tomer. This research seeks to answer the
research question: How do European Lux-
ury Fashion Brands use Nostalgia in their
Advertising, and Marketing? Furthermore,
the research aims to analyze how Europe-
an luxury fashion brands use nostalgia as a
theme in their advertising and marketing,
and to analyze the benefits of using nos-
talgia theme in these adverts. The research
has three objectives: firstly, to identify, and
analyze various European luxury brands’
advertising relating to nostalgia from
Vogue magazine by a content analysis of
imagery. Secondly to create a model which
develops Van Laer et al.’s (2014) model
which is an extended version of Narrative
Transportation Imagery Model (Green &
Brock, 2002), and finally to provide man-
agerial implications beyond the theory for
advertisers, and marketers in terms of pro-
moting nostalgia for luxury fashion adver-
tising field.
Nostalgia research commonly focused
on brand advertising of comfort food
(Stern, 1992a). There is a gap in the nostal-
gia research in luxury fashion brands’ ad-
vertising. Furthermore, the research aims
to fill the gap in research suggestions: to
explore other cultural contexts in terms
of nostalgia and heritage, and to research
a brand’s heritage via content analysis
in brand’s advertising (Merchant & Rose,
2013). Finally, the gap in the research of
Kim, Lloyd, and Cervellon (2016) by ana-
lyzing the luxury brand characteristics in
the advertising narratives in depth. Thus,
this research has an original value since it
fills the gap in literature by offering a dif-
ferent product category to investigate for
nostalgia literature: luxury fashion brands’
advertising, and from a different cultural
context: European luxury fashion brands,
and brands which target the European
market. Furthermore, it aims to analyze
luxury brand characteristics in further de-
tail. The persuasion power of luxury fash-
ion advertising is impressive, and differ-
ent from regular advertising. That is why
the rationale of conducting this research
comes from the curiosity, and wish to an-
alyze luxury fashion advertising relating to
nostalgia in great detail which promotes,
and triggers luxury fashion market’s suc-
cess. While the research aims to contribute
to narrative transportation, and nostalgia
literature in terms of advertising; it also
draws managerial implications for mar-
keters, and advertisers.
2 Literature review
2.1 Luxury brand characteristics
There are various core characteristics that
a fashion brand must obtain to achieve an
authentic luxury brand status. Okonkwo
(2007, p. 105) describes these character-
istics of luxury fashion brands’ anatomy:
“Innovative, creative, unique products; a
heritage of craftsmanship; a distinct brand
identity; high visibility; premium pricing;
emotional appeal; a global reputation;
consistent delivery of premium quality; ex-
clusivity in goods production, and tightly
controlled distribution”. These character-
istics are crucial for luxury fashion brands
because they are the source of power,
which provide a distinctive brand value
for the brand, and emotional attachment
for the customer. Another study relating to
luxury fashion brands suggests the follow-
ing six elements: “Excellent quality, high
price, scarcity & uniqueness, aesthetics &
polysensuality, ancestral heritage & per-
sonal history, and superfluousness as key
characteristics” (Dubois et al., 2001, cited
in Hines & Bruce, 2007, p. 131).
Country of origin “provides a nation-
al identity and attitude, associated with
the brand” (Hines & Bruce, 2007, p. 136).
While this distinct national identity en-
ables luxury brands to distinguish its iden-
tity among its rivals in the competitive
luxury fashion market, it also increases
brand awareness by attracting custom-
er attention via familiarity of historical
background. In addition “association with
a country of origin that has an especially
strong reputation as a source of excel-
lence in the relevant product category”
(Nueno & Quelch, 1998, p. 63), is a sign of
Ok / Studies in Communication Sciences 18.2 (2018), pp. 307–324
product quality. Another key characteris-
tic: “Heritage of the brand and the history
associated with its founder and its crafts-
manship are built into the luxury brand”
(Nueno & Quelch, 1998, cited in Hines &
Bruce, 2007, p. 132). Particularly brand
heritage refers to “a dimension of a brand’s
identity found in its track record, longevi-
ty, core values, use of symbols and partic-
ularly in the organizational belief that its
history is important” (Urde et al., 2007,
p. 4). Heritage, and craftsmanship do not
only tell a story of a luxury brand’s history,
and guarantees longevity; but also points
out the rarity, and exclusivity of the luxury
products. Furthermore “the retention of
heritage has the ability to create nostalgia
and credibility for a brand, and is often
correlated to the heritage of the country of
origin” (Fionda & Moore, 2009, p. 352). As a
result of these crucial characteristics: “The
luxury fashion brand becomes a lifestyle
statement that permeates across other as-
pects than apparel” (Hines & Bruce, 2007,
p. 138). Furthermore, examining these
characteristics in luxury fashion advertis-
ing narrative is a subject which requires
further investigation because of the lack of
research which combines these two areas.
2.2 Luxury fashion
advertising and marketing
Even though research in advertising is very
broad; research in fashion advertising is
surprisingly narrow, and does not go be-
yond examining fashion imagery as an
advertising type which mainly does not in-
clude text but includes extraordinary, and
discrepant visuals (Phillips & McQuarrie,
2011), has an aim to shock the audience
with contents such as violence (Andersson
et al., 2004), and is shaped through aes-
thetical concerns (Wallerstein, 1998). On
the other hand, fashion imagery’s social
impact on women, and society has been
researched in many perspectives. For in-
stance, its impacts such as stereotyping
idealized women (Stokrocki, 1988, cited in
Phillips and McQuarrie, 2011), including
thinness: Hunger, and unsmiling models
associated with looks called heroin chic,
and junkie look (Wallerstein, 1998), and
representation of alternative sexualities
309
(Oswald, 2010) in fashion advertising in
order to increase brand awareness, and
target a broader audience.
However, luxury fashion brand adver-
tising is more concerned with protecting
the exclusivity of luxury products (Hines &
Bruce, 2007), aesthetics, and narrative
(Flueckiger, 2009) of the advert, presenting
the product in a story since it is not com-
pletely product focused, but mainly expe-
rience focused. Luxury adverts provide an
abstractness (Hansen & Wanke, 2011), and
“mythical history” (Freire, 2014) of the lux-
ury brand to the audience. The aim of sell-
ing the experience that a consumer might
have by possessing the product rather
than selling the product is crucial for a lux-
ury fashion brand to achieve in their ad-
vertising approach.
“In the luxury domain in recent
years, a certain type of advertisement has
emerged that relies almost exclusively on
the evocation of pure sensations” (Flueck-
iger, 2009, p. 196). Sensations provoke the
audience to connect, and emphasize with
the structure of the adverts. Such structure
includes characters, product, plot, back-
ground, narrative, and music which lead
to sensations as an outcome. Sensations
are supported by “aesthetic features of
style such as depth of field, diffusion, co-
lour or light enhance the spectator’s sen-
sorial response” (Flueckiger, 2009, p. 196).
Different than fashion advertising, luxury
advertising is close to lifestyle advertising
since the product, and its functional infor-
mation are slightly mentioned.
On the other hand, Hansen, and Wan-
ke (2011) argue the abstractness of luxu-
ry. Abstractness in their research refers to
both the distance between the non-target
audience, and the luxury product phys-
ically and psychologically. The distance
between the product, and non-target au-
dience occurs physically since “luxury is
something inessential but conductive to
pleasure and comfort or something expen-
sive or hard to obtain” (Houghton Mifflin
Company, 2000, cited in Hansen & Wanke,
2011, p. 790). Thus luxury is only obtained
by a limited audience, so that the regular
customer feels both physically, and psy-
chologically distanced from the world of
310 Ok / Studies in Communication Sciences 18.2 (2018), pp. 307–324
luxury. The research also points out that
“advertisers tend to use more abstract
language when they describe their luxury
products” (Hansen & Wanke, 2011, p. 794).
Since the product representation includes
exclusivity, rarity, and a premium priced
luxury product, the language also reflects
these characteristics. While luxury adver-
tising represents a lifestyle experience;
it also includes traditional, and cultural
values which are different, and specific to
each luxury brand. “Luxury advertising is
particularly image-dependent and vehicle
their messages by interpreting represen-
tations and cultural symbols supposed to
be known by the consumer” (Freire, 2014,
p. 2668). Therefore, emphasizing, and rep-
resenting roots, and historical values of
these brands via advertising is crucial as a
message. Adopting symbols within the ad-
verts serves for this purpose.
2.3 Semiotics
Semiotics discipline enables this research
to make solid comments on symbols, and
cultural references located in the adverts.
“Semiotics is a discipline that provides a
structure for studying and analyzing how
signs function within a particular en-
vironment” (Zakia & Nadin, 1987, p. 5).
Within a structure provided by semiotics,
commentary on the signs gains value. Ac-
cording to the first semiotician Ferdinand
de Saussure, signs had 2 elements in their
structure: the signifier, and the signified.
The signifier refers to the part of commu-
nication which carries the message, and
the signified refers to which is communi-
cated by the signifier (Hall, 2012). Fashion,
and luxury fashion advertising frequently
adopt semiotics since they use various
symbols. Especially luxury fashion adver-
tising which is more concerned with the
narrative (Flueckiger, 2009), having an ab-
stract representation (Hansen & Wanke,
2011), representing brands’ heritage, and
mythical history (Freire, 2014).
2.4 Narrative transportation
Narrative in advertising is crucial for a lux-
ury brand. It is not only a way to introduce
their product but also a way to express the
brand’s identity, culture, heritage and life-
style. “The power of narratives to change
beliefs has never been doubted and has al-
ways been feared” (Green and Brock, 2000,
p. 701). For a narrative to be powerful it is
important to be able to transport the cus-
tomer via empathy, and imagination. Nar-
rative transportation theory constitutes
the core of this research. Gerrig (1993)
described transportation as an experience
which a traveler (a metaphor for a read-
er), moves away from his world of origin
by the experience of reading (travel), and
this experience changes the traveler. Al-
though Gerrig’s research correctly iden-
tifies transportation, it fails to consider
consequences, and components of this ex-
perience. However later Green and Brock
(2000), further developed Gerrig’s descrip-
tion of narrative transportation; defining
it as a convergent mental process which
might occur as a result of both fictional
or non-fictional narratives. By focusing,
transportation causes the reader to lose
information of real world, and changes the
reader’s beliefs & attitudes based on the
narrative as consequences. Transportation
makes the persuasion possible by reduc-
ing cognitive responding since it decreas-
es counterarguments, negative thoughts,
and makes the narrative look like a real life
experience. Green and Brock (2000) estab-
lished that transportation can be achieved
by not only reading but also by listening,
and viewing the content without a written
material, while Escalas (2007) also argues
that narrative transportation is possible
via adverts if the adverts lead the customer
to construct a narrative. Thus it explains
the transportation power of fashion adver-
tising which do not have texts.
Phillips and McQuarrie (2010) identi-
fy how the grotesque imagery can provide
narrative transportation to the customer.
The authors outline five modes of engage-
ment which make persuasion possible.
Even though their research connects fash-
ion advertising to narrative transportation
in grotesque imagery; it fails to consider
luxury fashion brands’ anatomy, and char-
acteristics. Van Laer, De Ruyet, Visconti &
Wetzels (2014) provide an extended ver-
sion of narrative transportation theory
by developing a model about its anteced-
Ok / Studies in Communication Sciences 18.2 (2018), pp. 307–324
ents, and consequences. Lastly, Kim et al.
(2016) introduced luxury fashion branding
to narrative transportation by researching
narrative-transportation storylines in lux-
ury brand advertising, focusing on themes
which emerged from their interviewees’
descriptions. However, further research in
this area is necessary, since their research
is limited to the themes they identified,
and it does not offer an insight into the
characteristics of luxury brands.
2.5 Nostalgia
Nostalgia used in advertising stimulates
empathy with the customer via his past,
and the customer experiences narrative
transportation by the nostalgic advertis-
ing narrative. “Marketers can promote a
brand’s heritage by evoking the brand’s
history and/or a brand’s origins through
vicarious nostalgia based advertising”
(Merchant & Rose, 2013, p. 2624). There-
fore; narrative transportation, brand her-
itage, and nostalgia theme in the adverts’
narratives are linked together to persuade
the customer.
Nostalgia is a yearning for yesterday
(Davis, 1979). “A sentimental or bitter-
sweet yearning for an experience, product,
or service from the past” (Baker &Kenne-
dy, 1994, p. 169). Marketing, and adver-
tising practices have started to include
nostalgic themes increasingly in adverts
since the 90’s, therefore it is a relatively
new application. Stern (1992a), identifies
two types of nostalgia: personal, and his-
torical. Personal nostalgia refers to ideal-
izing “the personally remembered past”
(Stern, 1992a, p. 16) while historical nos-
talgia refers to desire for returning to a
time in the past before the audience was
born. This is supported, and further devel-
oped by Baker and Kennedy (1994) who
identified three types of nostalgia: real,
stimulated, and collective. Real nostalgia
is similar to personal nostalgia, its stimuli
can evoke vivid memories since it is expe-
rience based. Stimulated nostalgia which
is similar to historical nostalgia, refers to
“yearning for the indirectly experienced
past” (Baker & Kennedy, 1994, p. 171). Fi-
nally, collective nostalgia which is a con-
tribution to Stern’s categorization, refers
311
to “bittersweet yearning for the past which
represents a culture, a generation, or a na-
tion” (Baker & Kennedy, 1994, p. 171). Even
though nostalgia has been increasingly
used as a theme in advertising and mar-
keting; research of nostalgia’s impacts on
advertising is limited and relatively new.
Havlena and Holak (1991, 1998) as well as
Stern (1992a, 1992b) are the first authors
who focused on nostalgia from a market-
er, and advertiser’s perspective rather than
nostalgia research in psychology (Daniels,
1985), and sociology (Davis, 1979) fields.
Stern (1992a) identified benefits of
using personal, and historical nostalgia
in advertising separately since they are
appropriate for certain products from dif-
ferent categories. The author claims that
personal nostalgia is more useful for “co-
cooning or nesting products that are so-
cially inconspicuous, but that provide the
benefit of comfortability” (Stern, 1992a,
p. 19). For instance: comfort food. Since
these products speak to target audience’s
self-concept and is associated with their
past: childhood, and home. However his-
torical nostalgia suits representation of
products which are more concerned with
“status claims, and appeals to the con-
sumer’s ideal social self-concept” (Stern,
1992a, p. 19). Whereas Stern overlooked
nostalgia’s emotional impacts as a conse-
quence of advertising, Havlena and Holak
(1991) focused on benefits of nostalgia in
advertising in terms of evoking positive
emotions related to the customer’s past.
“Advertising for products may consciously
evoke past associations and memories or
create or recall positive affective respons-
es” (Havlena & Holak, 1991, p. 325). It is
crucial for a nostalgia themed advertising
to be able to filter negative thoughts that
a costumer might possibly have about
his/her past. The authors identified three
possible cases which might occur: having
neutral, negative or positive memories,
and emotions about the past.
Merchant and Rose (2013), provide
knowledge about the effects of historical
nostalgia in advertising on brand heri-
tage. Research reveals “the relationship
between nostalgia proneness, and brand
heritage highlights the importance of ef-
312
fective advertisements in creating and
enhancing brand heritage and deepening
brand attachment” (Merchant & Rose,
2013, p. 2624). Further research sugges-
tions offer exploring other cultural con-
texts in terms of heritage, and nostalgia via
content analysis (Merchant & Rose, 2013).
Research for nostalgia in advertising, and
marketing is limited, and open to further
investigation especially in different prod-
uct areas, and brand categories. There is
a gap in the nostalgia research in luxury
fashion advertising which requires further
research since heritage, and origins of lux-
ury fashion brands are important charac-
teristics; emphasizing brand heritage via
advertising with nostalgia theme is cru-
cial for a distinctive luxury brand identity.
Therefore, consistent with the further re-
search suggestions, this research aims to
investigate European luxury fashion brand
advertising relating to nostalgia, and how
these brands use nostalgia theme in their
marketing, and advertising.
3 Methodology
3.1 Research question
How do European Luxury Fashion Brands use
Nostalgia in their Advertising, and Marketing?
3.2 Philosophy
The research adopts social constructivism
philosophy which is a worldview where
“individuals seek understanding of the
world in which they live and work” (Cre-
swell, 2014, p. 8). The reason for adopting
social constructivism is that this philoso-
phy enables the researcher to develop sub-
jective, and multiple meanings from their
experiences (Creswell, 2014).
3.3 Theoretical framework
Narrative Transportation Theory, con-
stitutes the core of this research which
provides a framework in order to under-
stand, and investigate the narratives of
the selected luxury fashion advertising
relating to nostalgia. Accordingly, an ex-
tended version of the Transportation-Im-
Ok / Studies in Communication Sciences 18.2 (2018), pp. 307–324
agery Model (Green & Brock, 2002), estab-
lished by Van Laer et al. (2014) was used
as a model to follow since the advanced
model provides specific antecedents, and
conse­quences of narrative transportation
in great detail from both the storyteller’s,
and story-receiver’s perspective. The au-
thors confirmed by their research that
these antecedents affect, and increase
narrative transportation. As consequenc-
es; audience’s beliefs, attitudes, and pur-
chase intentions change since narrative
transporta­tion increases affective respons-
es, and decreases cognitive responses and
critical thoughts (Van Laer et al., 2014).
The research focuses on the story­ teller
components.
As seen in Figure 1, storyteller anteced-
ents are identifiable characters, imagin-
able plot, and verisimilitude. “Identifiable
characters affect narrative transportation
because story receivers vicariously experi-
ence characters’ beliefs and emotions, em-
pathize with them, and become engrossed
in the story” (Slater & Rouner, 2002, cited
in Van Laer et al., 2014, p. 802). Imagin-
able plot makes narrative transportation
possible since “stories resemble real-life
experiences” (Green, 2006, cited in Van
Laer et al., 2014, p. 802). Finally, verisi-
militude refers to lifelikeness of the story
which persuades audience that the story
has a possibility to occur in real life. These
storyteller components were examined as
themes by a content analysis of imagery in
luxury fashion adverts relating to nostal-
gia. Because identifiable characters whom
the receiver can empathize with; imagin-
able plot which also proposes a lifestyle
to the receiver; and verisimilitude are the
themes which the receiver can empathize
with by reminiscing his/her past, and can
be found in nostalgia related advertising.
Familiarity story receiver antecedent was
also mentioned in this research, since it
refers to “the degree to which a story re-
ceiver has prior knowledge about or per-
sonal experience with the story topic or
genre” (Green, 2004, cited in Van Laer,
2014, p. 803). Nostalgia provokes famil-
iarity which leads to narrative transporta-
tion of the receiver. Provoked nostalgia in
this case of familiarity might be personal,
Ok / Studies in Communication Sciences 18.2 (2018), pp. 307–324
Figure 1: Extended Transportation-Imagery Model
Storyteller
–Identifiable
characters
–Imaginable plot
–Verisimilitude
Story-receiver
Narrative
Transportation
Story-receiver
–Familiarity
–Attention
–Transportability
–Age
–Education
–Sex
Adapted from Van Laer et al., 2014, p. 801
historical, or collective. Nostalgia type de-
pends on the receiver’s past experience,
and triggers familiarity.
3.4 Research method: content analysis
Definition of content analysis has been
changed over the history since the devel-
opment process goes on. According to
Holsti (1969), content analysis is a tech-
nique, which enables making inferences
by identifying specific characters of mes-
sages objectively and systematically. Holsti
(1965), groups 15 uses of content analysis
into three main categories. The category:
“To describe trends in communication
content” is chosen. This category helps
investigating the differences, and simi-
larities among the findings; since content
analysis is a useful technique for analyzing
trends, and patterns within the text. The
analysis was done in 2016, and to ensure
cross-coder reliability; the results, and
themes were crosschecked with a super-
visor, and a group session activity in class.
3.4.1 Semiotics
Research adopts semiotics discipline to
analyze 20 luxury fashion adverts with
prominent symbols out of 60 selected ad-
313
Consequences
–Affective response
–Critical thought
–Narrative thought
–Belief
–Attitude
–Intention
Measurement scale
verts. A table for each advert was made
which was inspired by Roland Barthes’
(1964) Signifier and Signified Table and
semiotics table of Freire (2014) in terms of
structure.
Sample: For the qualitative content
analysis of imagery, 60 print adverts from
Italian Vogue between 2010–2016 were
examined. The adverts of 5 luxury fash-
ion brands targeting the European market
were analyzed. Dolce & Gabbana, Gucci,
Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Tommy Hilfiger
brands were chosen; because their adverts
are located in the first main pages of Vogue
magazines, and they use nostalgia as a
theme in their advertising the most since
these brands have a strong brand heritage.
4 Findings
This research used content analysis of
imagery to identify nostalgia in Europe-
an luxury fashion brands’ adverts. Firstly,
descriptions of images were made; key
themes, and words were formed as nodes
in content analysis. Secondly, the software
NVIVO was adopted to import the adverts,
highlight, and code the adverts’ descrip-
314 Ok / Studies in Communication Sciences 18.2 (2018), pp. 307–324

tions. NVIVO is an advanced qualitative Table 1: Final key themes and words
research software which enables the user
Final key themes Final key words:
to import, and analyze documents, im-
(Categories) for each key theme
ages, and audios according to themes via
Nostalgia Experience
coding (Qrinternational, 2015). The high-
Memories
lighted content from the descriptions were
Old
analyzed. The results were examined to Vivid
understand nostalgia’s use, and benefits Past
in luxury fashion advertising. Vogue was Birth
used for this purpose since the magazine Vintage
is published internationally, has a high Antiques
circulation rate, and reputation for adver- Bitter-sweet
Home-sick
tising various prestigious luxury brands Souvenir
over the history (Conde Nast, 2016). Vogue Culture National Food
issues (72 issues) were examined to choose Music
desired nostalgia related adverts. Luxury Tradition
Origin
fashion adverts from selected issues be- Home
tween 2010–2016 were scanned, and im- Family
ported. Two adverts per brand, and year. Dinner
Children
60 adverts in total were examined to en-
Movie reference
sure parity. The reason for this timeframe History Historical Buildings
is the increase observed in the use of nos- Events
talgia theme in luxury fashion advertising Ceremony
Childhood
in this period. To discover the trends in the
Celebration
communication content, the descriptions Historical
of the scanned 60 adverts were coded ac- Heritage Personality
cording to the key themes and words. Text Longevity
Search Query, and Word Frequency Query Rarity
Craftsmanship
features were used by searching the se- Lifestyle Travel
lected words among the initial analysis Escape
data. Key themes, and words were select- Youth
ed again for the text search query option. Holidays
Friends
Accordingly, the most frequently used key Exclusivity
themes, and words related to nostalgia for Freedom
each luxury fashion brand were found. College (University)
Afterwards, a new version of major key Fantasy Dreams
Exotic
themes, and words were revealed (See Ta- Empathy
ble 1). The reason for narrowing down the Aesthetics Symbols
number was to maintain the focus of this Abstractness
research: nostalgia. Verisimilitude
(Life-Likeness)

4.1 Analysis of adverts

4.1.1 Louis Vuitton adverts
The main themes are travel, freedom, and
escape. The models represent youth, nat-
ural beauty; their attitudes are fearless,
and adventurous. However, the themes
mentioned are represented by different
symbols. In 2012-September advert (Ta-
ble 2) (See Wwd.com, 2012) the symbol
which represents travel, escape, and free-
dom is “an old train”; for 2014-April ad-
vert (Buro247.me, 2014): a safari car, and
a desert background. For 2012-December
advert (Vogue.es, 2012) is a red hot air bal-
loon, and Louvre Museum. Another com-
mon point is Louis Vuitton garments, bags,
and suitcases located in these adverts.
They represent heritage quality, crafts-
manship, exclusivity, and brand history as
luxury brand characteristics. Their sym-
bolic meaning is that they provide a “sup-
port mechanism” for the models in their
Ok / Studies in Communication Sciences 18.2 (2018), pp. 307–324
Table 2: LV advertisement 2012 september
Personage/Object Symbolic Meaning
(Icon/Signifier) (Signified) and Narrative
Young Models Youth, beauty, fearless,
adventurous, freedom
Louis Vuitton Bags Travel, holidays
Old Train Background Travel, escape, freedom,
nostalgic, timeless, historical
journey, and adventure. These symbols,
and themes make the narrative stronger,
and abstract. Furthermore, they contribute
to nostalgia literature since they represent
travel, which is an escape from the present
life. The reason for that could be longing
for, and missing one’s past, and old memo-
ries. Nostalgic, vintage inspired garments,
and suitcases; backgrounds such as an old
train, and Louvre Museum (2012-Decem-
ber) in these adverts are other evidences
for valuing the past. Such backgrounds,
especially Louvre Museum are historical,
and cultural references which represent
the past, and origins of the luxury brand.
4.1.2 Dolce & Gabbana adverts
The main themes are family, home, Ital-
ian tradition, and culture. The models
represent natural beauty, traditional Ital-
ian women, and confidence. For the ad-
vert 2010-September (Porcelainista.net,
2014) the model (Madonna) represents a
traditional Italian mother. She is in D&G
garments which have a traditional Italian
style. They represent brand heritage, ori-
gin, and craftsmanship. The background
is a traditional Italian family house which
has nostalgic decoration inspired by
D&G’s origin: Sicily. The baby is a symbol
for childhood, innocence, and family that
represents innovation as a luxury brand
characteristic; family, future, and birth as
nostalgia contributions. The representa-
tion of an Italian woman who is bonded
to her family, and traditions becomes a
powerful narrative, and represents a tra-
ditional Italian lifestyle which is nostalgic
since it is different from today’s Italian life-
style. In the 2012-January advert (Table 3)
(Yatzer.com, 2011), there is a crowded Ital-
ian family in front of a traditional Italian
315
Icon’s contribution to luxury Icon’s contribution to
brand characteristics Nostalgia Literature
Beauty, brand identity, rebellious Youth, dreams, abstractness
Authenticity, quality, innovation, Traveling: Escaping from the
heritage, craftsmanship present to the past, home-sick
Brand history, origins, roots, Nostalgic, antiques, old
lifestyle
house as a background. It is a symbol for
home, unity, and tradition. This symbol
represents brand heritage, and history as
luxury brand characteristics; unity, tradi-
tion, and home-sick memories as nostal-
gia literature contributions. The models
are in traditionally designed lace clothes
which represent brand heritage, origins:
Sicily, and craftsmanship. There is a little
boy who is a symbol for childhood, inno-
cence, and freedom. It can be interpreted
as innovation as a luxury brand character-
istic; future, and freedom as contributions
to nostalgia literature. The “white bow”
which is on the little boy’s suit is a symbol
for the event: “first communion” It rep-
resents the respect for Italian traditions,
and culture as contributions to nostalgia
literature; brand’s roots, and culture as lux-
ury brand characteristics.
4.1.3 Chanel adverts
The common themes are nostalgia, histo-
ry, and freedom. Adverts represent the Pa-
risian lifestyle from different time frames.
Models represent youth, freedom, con-
fidence, and iconic Parisian beauty and
style. They are in iconic Chanel garments
which emphasize brand identity, heritage,
and craftsmanship. The advert: 2015-Feb-
ruary (Conversationsabouther.net, 2014)
takes place in front of the iconic Parisian
café: Café de Flore. This café is a symbol
for the classical Parisian café culture, and
lifestyle. It represents brand history, and
Parisian roots as luxury brand characteris-
tics. The bag in the advert is a symbol for
escaping, and traveling. It represents es-
caping from the present, going back home,
and being home-sick as contributions to
nostalgia literature.
316 Ok / Studies in Communication Sciences 18.2 (2018), pp. 307–324

Table 3: D&G advertisement 2012 january

Personage/Object Symbolic Meaning Icon’s contribution Icon’s contribution

(Icon/Signifier) (Signified) and Narrative
Young Models Youth, traditional beauty
Walk-on: Family Family, home, unity, tradition,
family gathering (for church)
Little Boy Childhood, innocence,
freedom, future
White Bow (on little boy) Church event: First Communion
D&G Garments Traditional Italian style, origins
Italian House Background Family, home, unity, culture,
Italian tradition and lifestyle
to luxury brand
characteristics
Youth, traditional beauty,
perfection
Brand history, heritage,
origins, roots
Innovation, future, freedom
Respect for traditions,
and brand’s roots: Italy
Brand heritage, craftsmanship,
history, brand identity
Brand history, origins, roots,
Italian lifestyle
to Nostalgia Literature
Youth, freedom, life-like
Unity, home, home-sick,
tradition, memories
Home, family, childhood, future
Tradition, culture, respect
Heritage, personality
Tradition, culture, family,
home-sick, memories

Table 4: Chanel advertisement 2012 november

Personage/Object Symbolic Meaning Icon’s contribution Icon’s contribution to Nostalgia

(Icon/Signifier) (Signified) and Narrative to luxury brand Literature
characteristics
Young Model Youth, freedom, confidence, Brand identity, beauty, Youth, dreams, abstractness, past
fearless, beautiful, nostalgic personality, rarity
18th Century Costume A reference to the 18th Century Authentic, longevity, brand Old, antiques, vintage, history,
in Paris identity, brand origins, crafts­ Tradition
manship, exclusivity
Chanel Suit-Jacket Nostalgic, vintage, old, iconic, Tradition, craftsmanship, Vintage, old, past, antiques,
antiques, reminds of Coco Chanel heritage, longevity, brand identity, heritage
the designer rarity, personality
Palace Background Historical, reference, origins, Brand origins, brand history, Historical, old, past, abstractness
Parisian heritage, roots, longevity

Table 5: Gucci advertisement 2012 october

Personage/Object Symbolic Meaning Icon’s contribution Icon’s contribution to Nostalgia

(Icon/Signifier) (Signified) and Narrative
Young Model Youth, natural beauty
Gucci Horsebit Loafers Recreation of Gucci Horsebit
Loafers from 1953
Record Player and Records Vintage, antiques, old,
memories, souvenir
Home Background Family, home, unity
to luxury brand Literature
characteristics
Brand identity, beauty, Youth, freedom, life-like
personality
Brand history, heritage, Vintage, Antiques, past
craftsmanship
Brand history, longevity, Vintage, Antiques, memories
personality
Family lifestyle, comfort Family, going back home,
home-sick, memories

The advert: 2012-November (Table 4) ground, and costumes provide contribu-

(tatajazzblog.blogspot.com, 2012) has a
pa­lace background. The 18th Century in­
spi­red costume of the model, and the
background with antique possessions,
represent the 18th Century in Paris. This
era is important for the narrative since it
emphasizes the brand’s origins. The back-
tions to nostalgia literature since they are
inspired from the past, and the French
heritage historically.
4.1.4 Gucci Adverts
The advert 2015-July (Businessoffashion.
com, 2015) has travel, and escape themes.
Ok / Studies in Communication Sciences 18.2 (2018), pp. 307–324
The subway is a symbol for escaping from
the present, and for freedom which are
nostalgia contributions. The bag, and
shoes are prominent; they represent brand
heritage, and craftsmanship.
The advert: 2012-October (Table 5)
(Pink­fishmedia.net, 2012) has home, and
family themes. The model is in a family
house which represents family, and unity.
There are vintage records, and a record
player in the background. They represent
history, and memories as nostalgia con-
tributions; longevity, and brand history as
luxury characteristics. The model is in Gu-
cci Horsebit Loafers which are recreations
of the original shoes from 1953. They rep-
resent heritage, craftsmanship, and brand
history.
4.1.5 Tommy Hilfiger adverts
The advert: 2011-December (Cdn.style-
frizz.com, 2011) has family, and holidays
themes. The models in festive Tommy Hil-
figer garments represent youth, and free-
dom. They have a carefree, and exclusive
lifestyle. There is an old male model who
is the father of the family. He represents
guidance to the youth, the past, and unity
as nostalgia contributions. There are also
children who represent innocence, and
future; innovation as luxury brand char-
acteristics, and future and childhood as
nostalgia contributions. There is a house
background which is decorated for Christ-
mas. It represents family, home, holidays,
and unity as nostalgia contributions.
5 Discussion
5.1 Representation of luxury
brand characteristics
Luxury brand characteristics: Heritage,
craftsmanship, exclusivity, rarity, brand
identity, brand origin, and longevity were
highlighted in these adverts in the find-
ings. By the strong narrative, and themes;
brand origin, and heritage and craftsman-
ship characteristics were emphasized by
representing the brand’s country of origin
as frequently seen in D&G adverts with
the representation of Sicilian inspired
lace clothes, and background decoration.
317
Furthermore, in Gucci, and Louis Vuit-
ton adverts; craftsmanship, and product
quality especially in terms of leather prod-
ucts were strongly emphasized within the
narrative. Since leather products are the
iconic products for both of the brands,
and for Louis Vuitton leather travel-goods
were its starting point-origin. Therefore,
the research agrees with “association with
a country of origin that has an especially
strong reputation as a source of excellence
in the relevant product category” (Nue-
no & Quelch, 1998, p.63). It can be inter-
preted as the respect to the brand’s country
of origin. Heritage was the most important
characteristic among them since it was
frequently used to represent the brand’s
history. Exclusivity by representing an ex-
clusive lifestyle, and rarity by providing
rare luxury products were emphasized
commonly as seen in Louis Vuitton, and
Chanel adverts. Also quality of the product
was strongly emphasized. Furthermore,
youth was one of the most frequently used
words to describe the models, and chil-
dren. It can be interpreted as innovation:
innovative designs of these brands.
Common points of research in luxu-
ry fashion characteristics were a distinct
brand identity, country of origin, heritage
and craftsmanship (Hines & Bruce, 2007).
Furthermore, as Fionda, and Moore (2009)
identified heritage characteristic has the
ability to create nostalgia, and credibility
for the brand; and it is correlated to the
brand’s country of origin. It is also found
in this research since heritage, nostalgia,
and country of origin characteristics were
inseparable in these adverts. According to
Urde et al. (2007), brand heritage refers to
core values, use of symbols, and brand his-
tory which is evident in the findings of this
research suggesting that heritage char-
acteristic was represented via symbols,
and values which tell a story about brand
history in these adverts. Finally, Kim et al.
(2016) introduced luxury fashion brand-
ing to narrative transportation by focus-
ing on themes which emerged from their
interviews. Their research was limited to
these themes. Thus this research fills this
gap by analyzing the luxury brand char-
acteristics in the advertising narratives in
318 Ok / Studies in Communication Sciences 18.2 (2018), pp. 307–324
depth. According to analysis, luxury brand
characteristics were emphasized via cer-
tain symbols embedded within the narra-
tive of the advertising. The outcome of the
advertising which is strengthened by vari-
ous luxury brand characteristics provides
a lifestyle to the customer. As a result, the
brand becomes a lifestyle statement for
the observer which makes the brand more
than apparel (Hines & Bruce, 2007).
5.2 Luxury fashion advertising
In the findings, the themes structured
were nostalgia, culture, history, heritage,
lifestyle, fantasy, and aesthetics. The life-
style theme was frequently used in order to
represent exclusive, and various lifestyles
specific for each culture such as Parisian,
and Italian cultures. Travel, holidays, es-
cape, youth, and freedom were other sub
themes used in the adverts along the life-
style theme. This result is consistent with
the suggestion of Flueckiger (2009) related
to luxury fashion advertising being strong
in narrative, and presenting the product
in a story such as a lifestyle. These themes
represent a free, adventurous, and exclu-
sive lifestyle to the luxury customers. It can
be interpreted as a longing for youth, and
a carefree lifestyle since the luxury cus-
tomers might have a busy lifestyle instead.
Thus this research agrees with the refer-
ence on the luxury commercials depicting
a form of travel which represents “expe-
riences that might have occurred in the
younger, more adventurous days of a now
successful audience stuck in conventions”
(Flueckiger, 2009, p. 206). Thus emotional
connection to the advertising might lead
to the thought of obtaining a free lifestyle
by purchasing, and being a part of these
brands. This theme is frequently used in
Louis Vuitton adverts. Another key theme:
Fantasy was used to represent dreams, and
empathy that an observer might have. This
theme combined with the lifestyle theme
provides an exotic, abstract, and a dream-
like world to the audience. Due to these
certain themes which represent abstract-
ness, the research partially agrees with the
statement of Hansen and Wanke (2011)
which identifies luxury fashion advertising
as an abstract type of advertising.
According to the findings, and analy-
sis: Heritage theme as mentioned in lux-
ury fashion brand characteristics repre-
sent the brand’s identity, craftsmanship,
longevity, and rarity. Heritage provides an
emotional bond to the brand’s culture, in-
forms, and makes the observer be a part of
the brand’s history. That is why this theme
was frequently linked to culture, and his-
tory themes in these adverts. Culture
theme was used to represent customs, and
traditions of the brand’s country of origin
as frequently seen in D&G, and Chanel ad-
verts. They emphasize the importance of
family bounds, national tastes, and coun-
try of origin. This theme makes the observ-
er feel familiar with the content due to his
cultural background, advert’s imaginable
plot, and identifiable characters as family,
so that the luxury brand does not look like
a distant, and abstract aspect anymore.
Furthermore, the theme history educates
the observer in terms of the brand’s his-
tory, or country of origin’s history via us-
ing masterpieces as backgrounds such as
The Louvre Museum, and Café de Flore in
Paris in Louis Vuitton, and Chanel adverts.
Knowing the history of the brand makes
the observer feel connected to the brand
on a personal level. The aesthetics theme
includes the symbols, abstractness, and
the verisimilitude (life-likeness) aspects.
According to these themes, the adverts
which included cultural, and nostalgia
themes were more life-like which repre-
sent a lifestyle, and imaginable plot to
the customer while the rest of the adverts
had an abstract representation. Symbols
were frequently used in these adverts to
strengthen the narrative, and the themes
mentioned; no matter if they were ab-
stract, or life-like. According to the analy-
sis, symbols have made the narrative more
powerful, and provided cultural referenc-
es. Being concerned with the aesthetics:
Symbols, and narrative have made these
adverts a form of art and presented emo-
tional content to the customer which leads
to more powerful emotional branding, and
brand loyalty.
As Flueckiger (2009) suggests in lux-
ury domain, the advertisement relies ex-
clusively on the evocation of pure senses,
Ok / Studies in Communication Sciences 18.2 (2018), pp. 307–324
aesthetics, and narrative. This research is
in keeping with this as, according to the
findings, aesthetic values such as sym-
bols, representation of important themes
strengthen the narrative, and also these
aspects rely on evocation of senses. Fur-
thermore, Hansen, and Wanke (2011) state
that the luxury advertising is abstract due
to the exclusivity of the products. This re-
search partially agrees on this statement
because of the certain symbols, and some-
times abstract narrative and themes such
as fantasy, found in these adverts. How-
ever certain themes such as culture, and
nostalgia provide an emotional connec-
tion to the observer due to having a warm,
and welcoming representation which are
imaginable, and life-like rather than ab-
stract. Therefore, the research also strong-
ly agrees with the statement of Flueckiger
(2009) which suggests luxury advertising
presents the product in a story such as
a lifestyle. Finally, different from the re-
searchers’ opinions; this research states
that certain themes: Nostalgia, and cul-
ture might bond the observer emotionally
to the content; and the use of aesthetics
makes the adverts a form of art instead of
regular informative advertising.
5.3 Nostalgia: how luxury fashion brands
use nostalgia as a theme in their
advertising
According to the findings, nostalgia theme
was frequently used in the selected adverts
with the key words: past, vintage, antiques,
bitter-sweet, memories, birth, experience,
and home-sick. This major theme rep-
resents a longing for the past. Consistent
with the adverts’ analysis, nostalgia theme
was frequently used to represent the
brand’s country of origin’s traditional life-
style, as can be seen in D&G adverts em-
phasizing Sicily. The main emphasize was
on traditional Italian women, family, and
lifestyle. It can be interpreted as a respect
from the brand to its root, a longing for
family, traditions, and traditional Italian
lifestyle. Similar to D&G, Tommy Hilfiger
adverts adopted nostalgia to represent the
importance of family, unity, and home.
One usually feels nostalgic when it is time
to go back home for holidays, since it is the
319
place where the childhood memories re-
main. However, in terms of Louis Vuitton
adverts, the main theme was travel, and
escape due to the brand’s travel-goods ori-
gin. One desires to travel, or go on holidays
when he/she needs a break from his pres-
ent lifestyle. This can be also interpreted as
nostalgia since the person wants to travel,
and escape from his present lifestyle since
the present lifestyle does not satisfy him.
Different from the others; Chanel, and
Gucci adverts adopted nostalgia to repre-
sent their brand heritage. Using nostalgia
theme for emphasizing heritage is pow-
erful for the narrative since it structures a
story about the brand’s roots, and history.
For Chanel, representation of the country
of origin’s history via constructing narra-
tives inspired from the 18th Century France
was a way to use Nostalgia. Gucci adverts
focused on vintage Gucci products with
nostalgic backgrounds which represented
brand heritage, craftsmanship, and prod-
uct quality.
When the observer experiences the
nostalgia themed advertising, the adver-
tising has an emotional impact on him/her
via reminding of his past through the nos-
talgia theme since the plot is imaginable.
The impact depends on the observer’s
past, memories, and the degree of familiar-
ity he/she has with the nostalgia themed
advertising content. Emotional bonding
is a desired outcome for brands via using
emotional branding paradigm. “Emotional
branding focuses on brand meanings that
interact with consumer lives and inspire
their passion, lifestyle, memories, and ex-
periences” (Thompson et al., 2006 cited in
Akgün et al., 2013, p. 504). As seen in this
research; the emotional content used for
emphasizing luxury brand characteristics
such as heritage, and themes as nostal-
gia, build an emotional bond between the
brand, and observer which helps build-
ing brand attachment, and brand loyalty.
“Emotional branding is a consumer-cen-
tric, relational, and story-driven approach
to forging deep and enduring affective
bonds between consumers and brands”
(Roberts, 2004 cited in Thompson et al.,
2006, p. 50). Due to being a story-driven
approach; narratives, and the degree of
320 Ok / Studies in Communication Sciences 18.2 (2018), pp. 307–324
empathy and familiarity used in the ad-
vertising content to emotionally affect the
observer is crucial. Brands should focus on
telling stories which inspire their costum-
ers, and these stories should contain a true
understanding of the observers’ lifestyle,
aims, and dreams (Thompson, 2006).
Therefore, nostalgia theme also provides
benefits for branding, and marketing via
strengthening emotional branding.
Stern (1992a) identifies 2 nostalgia
types: Personal nostalgia refers to ide-
alizing the personally remembered past
while historical nostalgia refers to desire
for returning to a time in the past before
the audience was born. In the analyzed
adverts, both nostalgia types can be seen.
Since some of them represent a closer
time in the past as the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s life-
styles; while some of them represent the
18th Century, and before the observer was
born. However, this research also agrees
on the nostalgia definition of Baker &
Kennedy (1994), in which they identified
3 types of nostalgia. While real, and stim-
ulated are similar to personal, and histori-
cal nostalgia; collective nostalgia refers to
“a bittersweet yearning for the past which
represents a culture, a generation, or a
nation” (Baker & Kennedy, 1994, p. 171).
Because in the analyzed adverts, there are
cultural references, and symbols which
an observer from a certain cultural back-
ground, a generation, or a nation can only
feel strongly familiar with.
Furthermore, this research agrees on
the statement: “Marketers can promote
a brand’s heritage by evoking the brand’s
history and/or a brand’s origins through
vicarious nostalgia based advertising”
(Merchant & Rose, 2013, p. 2624). This
statement was made for luxury brands;
however according to the analysis, it is
also acceptable for luxury fashion brands
advertising since the use of heritage, and
nostalgia together is evidenced; and nos-
talgia becomes a tool to inform the ob-
server about the brand heritage. Thus
this statement fills the gap in Merchant &
Rose’s further research suggestions: to ex-
plore other cultural contexts in terms of
vicarious (historical) nostalgia and her-
itage, and to research a brand’s heritage
in advertising via content analysis (Mer-
chant & Rose, 2013). Because this research
examined the advertising of luxury fashion
brands targeting the European market as
a different cultural context via content
analysis of imagery. On the other hand,
Stern (1992a) suggests using nostalgia in
advertising is more beneficial for nesting
products, and comfort food. However, this
research does not agree on Stern’s general-
ization, since this research fills the gap in
nostalgia literature in terms of luxury fash-
ion brand category by showing that this
field also adopts nostalgia for promoting
brand heritage, and products by also using
nostalgia as a theme for reminding of one’s
past, and childhood. Furthermore, Havle-
na, and Holak (1991) suggest that nostal-
gia evokes positive emotions, and filters
negative thoughts related to the observer’s
past. This research agrees on this sugges-
tion since the analyzed adverts projected a
positive representation of the past, and the
research states that nostalgia is beneficial
to build an emotional bond between the
observer, and brand which is possible by
evoking positive memories about the past.
5.4 Nostalgia, and narrative
transportation
Narrative is one of the most important el-
ements of an advert especially for luxury
fashion brands which aim to sell the ex-
perience. According to the analysis; strong
key themes and words related to nostalgia,
and symbols are the other core elements
which strengthened the narrative. Using
the theme nostalgia provides many bene-
fits to the brand, and some of these ben-
efits are the outcomes of narrative trans-
portation.
As mentioned; Gerrig (1993), and
Green & Brock (2000) describe transpor-
tation as an experience which a traveler
moves away from his world of origin by
reading a realistic narrative, and this ex-
perience changes the traveler’s beliefs,
and attitudes due to losing information
of the real world. It makes the persuasion
possible by reducing cognitive respond-
ing, and increasing affective thoughts.
Furthermore, Escalas (2007), and Phillip
& McQuarrie (2010) suggest that narrative
 –Familiarity
–Attention
–Transportability
Ok / Studies in Communication Sciences 18.2 (2018), pp. 307–324
–Age
–Education
Figure
–Sex2: Model: Benefits of Using Nostalgia in Luxury Fashion Advertising
Increased familiarity
due to familiar
background
Nostalgia theme
in luxury fashion
adverts via Life-like and more
– Symbols powerful narrative
– Other supporting
themes
Making the
Informing the
advertising a form
observer in terms of
of art
brand’s heritage
Own illustration
transportation is possible by observing
also adverts since they provide necessary
elements to construct a plot, and devel-
op characters. This research was built on
their suggestions, and is keeping up with
their work as the adverts’ analysis pro-
vide strong themes, symbols, and char-
acters as necessary elements to construct
a strong narrative. This research suggests
that using nostalgia theme in luxury fash-
ion advertising makes the narrative stron-
ger. Because it provides a vivid - life-like
(verisimilitude) story by using symbols,
and strong themes as nostalgia. So that the
observer feels familiar with the content
of the advert which includes “identifiable
characters, imaginable plot, and verisimil-
itude” due to his past memories, and ex-
perience which might happen because of
personal, historical, or collective nostalgia
depending on the person’s past experi-
ence, cultural background, and age; con-
sistent with Van Laer et al (2014) model.
Therefore, this research uses the “fa-
miliarity” element from the model of Van
Laer et al (2014) to structure a new model
–Intention
Measurement
scale
321
Emotional bond with
the observer and
strong emotional
branding
Effective and Strong narrative
persuasive advertising and familiarity
Narrative
transportation:
– Less critical thought
and counterarguments
– More affective
thoughts
– Change in belief,
attitude and
intention
which demonstrates benefits of using nos-
talgia in luxury fashion advertising, and
the connection between nostalgia theme,
and narrative transportation theory. The
model (Figure 2) starts with: Adopting
Nostalgia as a theme in luxury fashion
advertising by also using symbols, and re­
lated themes. Then it further explains its
benefits: Informing the observer about the
brand’s heritage, making the advertising
a form of art due to the use of aesthetics,
symbols and strong themes, building an
emotional bond with the observer on a
personal level via imaginable plot, and
identifiable characters; strengthening
emotional branding-brand loyalty, in-
creasing familiarity of the observer to con-
tent due to familiar background related to
nostalgia theme, and making the narrative
life-like, and more powerful. In the end;
the advert narratively transports the cus-
tomer due to its effective narrative, and
nostalgic content related to the observer’s
past experiences. Finally, according to nar-
rative transportation theory, the observer’s
opinions, attitudes, and beliefs could tem-
322 Ok / Studies in Communication Sciences 18.2 (2018), pp. 307–324
porarily change about the product due to
less critical, and more affective thoughts.
However, the aims of this research were to
show how luxury fashion brands use nos-
talgia as a theme in their advertising, and
to analyze benefits of using nostalgia rath-
er than testing narrative transportation
theory. Thus this research does not prove
that narrative transportation happens at
the end of this process, it assumes this last
step: “familiarity” leads to narrative trans-
portation based on the model of Van Laer
et al. (2014).
6 Conclusion
This research aimed to identify how luxury
fashion brands use nostalgia in their adver-
tising, and marketing. Firstly, the research
analyzed 5 luxury fashion brands’ 60 ad-
verts from Italian Vogue by a content anal-
ysis of imagery, and semiotics discipline.
This research revealed the importance of
luxury fashion brand characteristics for a
luxury fashion brand in the adverts’ narra-
tives, identified that nostalgia theme was
frequently used in the analyzed adverts,
and explained the benefits of nostalgia.
By filling the gap in the research of Stern
(1992a), the research demonstrated that
also this advertising field uses nostalgia
frequently as a theme, not only nesting
food. Research identified strong themes,
and symbols’ meanings embedded in the
narrative connected to nostalgia theme;
and structured a model based on Van Laer
et al. model (2014).
6.1 Recommendations
Advertisers, and marketers can use nos-
talgia as a theme in their advertising to in-
form the customer in terms of the brand’s
heritage. Furthermore, using nostalgia
with other sub-themes and symbols makes
the advertising a form of art which should
be the aim. Using this theme is especial-
ly suitable for luxury fashion advertising
since it should be built along aesthetic
values, and cultural symbols which are
more concerned with making the adver-
tising an art form. Nostalgia increases fa-
miliarity with the customer’s background,
builds an emotional bond between the
brand and the customer, and strengthens
emotional branding-brand loyalty. Thus
it also provides benefits for branding, and
marketing. Therefore, if decreasing the
psychological distance between the luxu-
ry brand, and the customer is aimed; this
theme can be used to increase emotional
branding. Finally, nostalgia theme can be
used to make the narrative more power-
ful, and life-like since it provides a familiar
story to the observer. As demonstrated in
Figure 2, the narrative supported by nos-
talgia theme makes the advertising more
effective due to familiarity. Thus it has the
ability to narratively transport the custom-
er. Narrative transportation of the observ-
er results in belief, attitude, and intention
changes. Therefore, if it is used wisely by
the industry; nostalgia is a crucial theme
to make powerful adverts in luxury fashion
advertising.
6.2 Limitations and further
research suggestions
This research focused on European ad-
vertising perspective. Further research
should examine other cultural contexts,
and product areas of advertising relating
to nostalgia.
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